City of Darkness 2024

A review by CinemaSerf

29 May 2024

I didn't make it to Hong Kong til 1994 so this famous Kowloon walled city had already gone but it's legend hadn't. It was the equivalent of a large block of properties, within properties - a mass of alleys, corridors and tunnels in which the law was enforced in a very different way from the outside. This story starts with a battle that sees control pass from "Jim" to "Cyclone" (Louis Koo). There's now a truce of sorts that exists between the bosses and the outside world, but that's about to be thrown into turmoil by the arrival of "Lok" (Raymond Lam). He works hard to get an official ID card but is fleeced by "Mr. Big" (Sammo Hung) and escapes with a bag of his cocaine into the walled city. That's where he encounters it's ruler and his sidekick "Shin" (Terrence Lau) and where his willingness to work and his fortitude ingratiates him with the boss. On the outside, "Cyclone" has a business relationship with "Chau" (Richie Jen) who has really only one purpose left in life. That's to avenge the murder of his family by the now dead "Jim". The focus of his revenge is that man's own son - but nobody nows what happened to him. Well, swiftly you can add two and two and get "Lok". Loyalties are now tested, friendships challenged and forged whilst the fragile peace is soon in tatters. With battle lines drawn and ambitions clear, it's all out war and the action mounts up. This is a sold end-to-end martial arts film with plenty of nimble and lithe combat; acrobatics and bodies that must be made of skin-clad tungsten steel. It's got a little bit of mysticism and embodies human nature, whether benign or not, quite entertainingly and by not just throwing itself about, but by at least trying to create and develop the characters. The denouement takes it's time and does become a bit repetitive, but as a quickly paced drama it really does fly by for two hours. Honour amongst thieves - but always sleep with your back to the wall.

A review by MovieGuys

10 July 2024

I remember flying over the Kowloon walled city when I first visited Hong Kong in 1987. I distinctly remember the drab cramped spaces and the washing fluttering like multi coloured flags, hanging from grimy windows. Until then, I had no idea people could and did, live like this. Twilight of the Warrior: Walled In takes its cue from the graphic novel to re-create the environment inside the walled city. A city which was, in essence, a self governing city, withing Hong Kong city. Unsurprisingly, criminal gangs vie for supremacy in the walled city. This story focuses on internal conflict within the controlling gang, triggered by the arrival of a newcomer with a past shared by the gangs leader. A situation taken advantage of by an external gang, who want control of the city, for their own benefit. This tale capably mixes fantasy, martial arts and social commentary. It's a detailed story, that you need to pay attention to or it can become a little hard to follow. Not helped by the fact its probably in Cantonese (Hong Kong's primary language), not English. That said, its a decent back story that's worth your time, highlighting the hardships but also the comradeship, of the walled city's residents. Action sequences which dominate the film, mix martial arts and parkour within the confined city spaces, in a way that's frenetically entertaining, if, at times, a little unbelievable. There is a profusion of respected, Hong Kong acting talent on display. too, which adds real depth and polish to this production. In summary, Twilight of the Warriors deep dives into a period of Hong Kong history that's been forgotten, in a way that's nostalgic, at times raw in its social commentary and extravagant in its martial arts set pieces. Perhaps the only downside, the complex story, that can be difficult for non-Chinese speakers to follow.

A review by Sejian

10 September 2024

I want to give this movie a higher rating for the historical aspect but the supervillain is just so ludicrous that he ruins the climax. From the moment his superpower is revealed, it starts going downhill because it becomes very apparent that in order to wrap up this story they're gonna have to come up with an utterly ridiculous solution to the ludicrous problem, and that's exactly what they did. I enjoyed the majority of this but I feel like I just wasted two hours because the climax sucked. Contrary to one of the other reviews here, I'm gonna say that the plot is not at all complex and certainly not so complex that an English speaker can't follow it. It's nothing we haven't seen before in an Asian crime thriller. The only bit that might blow your mind if you're not aware of your history is that Walled City was actually a real place that existed until 1994 and it looked a lot like what we see on screen. I read this movie is based on a comic? That explains the ridiculous supervillain. LET'S GET POLITICAL! It goes to show how ridiculous and flaky people's political culture wars are when you're staring at a self-governing commune and can't even call it communism, or point out the woke brigade that beats the snot out of a man for beating a woman to death. It's apparently only "social commentary" when we're not talking about American slavery and feminism, although, all the women we see in this movie have jobs. Walled City was torn down to build a park. One article says, "Tens of thousands of residents and workers in the Walled City were relocated and laid off, some with enough compensation to restart their lives but most without." while another article says, "The compensation package for residents and business owners totaled $2.76 billion. On average, residents received around $380,000 for their individual flats. Negotiations progressed over several years, and by November 1991, only 457 households were still to agree terms. By that time, most of the 33,000 residents had moved out. Some, however, clung on to the end, and on July 2, 1992, riot police entered the city and forced out the last remaining residents. [...] On March 23, 1993, a wrecker’s ball smashed into the side of an eight-story tower block on the edge of the Walled City. [...] The moment was applauded by a crowd of invited guests and dignitaries. It was also greeted with shouts of anger from former residents who had gathered for one last, futile protest." Most articles you'll read are sanitized and romanticized, though every one manages to refer to Walled City as a lawless crime den that foreigners were afraid of. _If only foreigners were afraid of more places..._